Supported File Types/Formats

PhotoShelter supports all major image formats including JPG, TIFF, raw files, PSD, DNG, SVG, and PDF. When you upload images into your PhotoShelter Image Browser, you are essentially placing them in your own geographically redundant archive. This means you'll have direct access to them any place, any time (as long as you have an internet connection). We recommend always uploading your highest quality images so you can rest assured they're safe and secure.

File Formats

Recommended

JPG

The most common file format stored in PhotoShelter is JPG. The relatively small file size (compared to TIFF or raw) makes it ideal for online storage, and most clients expect JPG files.

TIFF

Like JPG files, TIFF files are easy to store. However, they are uncompressed files, so they require more bandwidth during upload and storage space.

Limited Support

Raw files

You can store raw files, but remember that raw files are unprocessed, and we are not guaranteed to convert them correctly. The colors will be off. They are fine for archival use, but they are not ideal for printing or delivery. PhotoShelter uses the camera's generic profile as a reference to convert it to sRGB to display on your website. PhotoShelter does not associate files together that have the same name but different extensions.

PSD

Like raw files, PSD files are uncompressed. They are ideal for archival purposes, but not ideal for printing and delivery.

DNG

Like raw files, there are complications with DNG delivery. If you deliver them in JPG format, however, the files will be converted and delivered without any edits you may have made, as this is not possible in our present conversion process. We recommend using DNGs strictly for archival purposes.

PDF

When displaying within a public gallery, keep in mind that only the first page of a multi-page pdf will be viewable in the image preview. If downloaded, however, all pages will be intact.

SVG

SVG files that contain HTML will render as images within PhotoShelter. SVGs that contain JavaScript or CSS will not be rendered as images; they can be uploaded, stored, and downloaded, but no preview is available.

EPS

PhotoShelter generates an image preview of an EPS file’s contents. Because this image is adjusted for web display, the image may not look exactly like the original EPS file.

GIF

Playback is not available within PhotoShelter, so GIFs will render as a static image. If downloaded, a GIF can be played back.

Video

At this time, we do not support the hosting of video files, but it is possible to embed video that is hosted on another site, such as Vimeo; if you're using our Beam platform, you can learn more here. If you're using our Classic Websites platform, simply copy and paste the embed codes into any page of your website that supports the embedding of HTML.

Not Supported

HEIF

At this time, we do not support HEIF files, such as those created on an iPhone 7 (or later model) running iOS 11. If you are interested in changing your iOS settings to capture images as JPGs instead of HEIF/HEIC, you can learn how to change your iOS Camera settings here.

Size & Resolution

We recommend that you upload your highest quality images to your Image Browser. PhotoShelter automatically handles the resizing of images and gives you the ability to offer different sizes to your clients. Having the original file size simplifies print and digital sales because it doesn't require you to re-upload an image. However, if you choose to upload low-res images for efficiency, you may always replace them later, either at the point of sale or via the Web Uploader.

It should be noted that we never alter the original image uploaded to PhotoShelter; we will only apply adjustments to the screen-resolution versions and generate conversions on the fly.

Color Profiles

Images for display on the website are converted to sRGB. If the image is untagged, it will be tagged as sRGB for display. We use sRGB for maximum browser compatibility because it is a W3C standard. Images exported for printing will also be converted to sRGB. Keep in mind that we retain the original file which is an exact copy with the original profile intact.